Lost Season 5 Official Thread!

[DrDawkinstein]

No real spoilers below, but if you dont like knowing anything, might not want to read.

 

taken from thetailsection.com

 

Damon Lindelof attended the Comics on Comics event at Meltdown On Sunset. (Search me. I’m not a comics fan. But it was a public appearence, in any case.) He gives some startlingly direct answers to some huge questions including what the purpose of the DHARMA Initiative originally was and what the numbers really are, whether Libby will return and whether the series will have an open-ended conclusion or a clear cut conclusion. Read at your own risk. Seriously.

 

On What We Will and Won’t Eventually Learn

There are certain questions about the show that I’m very befuddled by like, ‘What is the Island?’ or ‘What do the numbers mean?’ We’re going to be explaining a little more about the numbers, maybe significantly more about the numbers, but what do you mean by ‘What do the numbers mean?’ What is a potential answer to that question? I feel like you have to be very careful about entering into Midi-Chlorian territory. I grew up on Star Wars; I’ve seen the Star Wars movies hundreds of times; I can recite them chapter and verse, and never once did anyone ever say to me or did it occur to me to say, ‘What is the Force, exactly? Can you explain that for me, better than Alec Guinness does?’ I understand, ‘When are we going to find out about Libby?’ That’s a very finite question. ‘Who is Jacob?’ OK, yes, we’ve been talking to this guy named Jacob, so those questions then should have answers, but ‘What is the Island?’ That starts to get into ‘What is the Force?’ It is a place. I can’t explain to you why it moves through space-time—it just does. You have to accept the fact that it does.”

 

On Why Fans Will Be Displeased With Next Season

“There isn’t a perfect way to end the show, but the end inevitably approaches, and so the show has to start answering more and more questions. To me, the greatest thing about Lost, just in terms of writing it, was that [over the years] the show could ask a question, and everyone [watching] could say ‘Here’s what I think the answer to that is.’ And next year we’re basically going to spend the entire season telling you you’re wrong. ‘Here’s the actual answer to that question.’ And you’re going to say, ‘S–t, my answer was actually much better!’

 

On What His Favorite Series Finale of All Time Is

M*A*S*H*

 

On Whether There Will Be a Sopranos “Cut To Black” Ending

“All of the character resolutions will be very defined. There is going to be no cut to black. The show for me and Carlton [Cuse] and J.J. [Abrams] and all the people writing it—it’s not about the Island. The Island is where it takes place. It’s about this group of people who crashed on the Island on Sept. 22, 2004 and how they influenced the history of the Island in some ways and had a very significant and pivotal role to play there. You’re going to see that role play out, and their fates will all be resolved by the end of the series—that’s the story that we’re telling. In terms of every little bit of minutiae about the Island itself…There will be questions [left unanswered] after the show [ends].”

 

Will Libby Ever Be Explained

“I have learned that if you kill someone off the show, they are less likely to cooperate with you.” Basically, Cynthia Watros is busy until further notice, and they can’t explain Libby without her, at least not in any way that shows her story rather than annoyingly tells her story.

 

What Are The Numbers

“Here’s the story with numbers. The Hanso Foundation that started the Dharma Initiative hired this guy Valenzetti to basically work on this equation to determine what was the probability of the world ending in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Valenzetti basically deduced that it was 100 percent within the next 27 years, so the Hanso Foundation started the Dharma Initiative in an effort to try to change the variables in the equation so that mankind wouldn’t wipe it itself out.” This information, in more convoluted form, was leaked out via the online games rather than explained on the show itself, said Damon, because, “That would be the worst thing ever. We have to make the show for the hard-core fans who care about the numbers, but we also have to make it for my mom, who just wants Sawyer to take his shirt off.”

 

The Bottom Line

“At the end of the day, you can do anything you want [as a storyteller] so long as it’s cool.”

[Ramius]

Decent episode. Here some thoughts.

 

1. Kate has tuned into a ninny. I like old kate better where she was much stronger and not so wishy-washy.

 

2. In last week's ep, Richard seems to be entering a territory where he doesn't know what the hell is going on. Prior to that point, he seemed to have everything under control and knew what was going to happen, and when. Now he seems genuinely dumbfounded by Locke and Locke's new power.

 

3. Me and the girlfriend both think that that Richard might be holding Jacob "down" so to speak. Perhaps he's running a "scam," since he seems to be in control of the island and always has been. He always picks "leaders" that will help him control the people. I think he's afraid of Locke blowing his cover and taking over.

 

4. On a similar vein, perhaps Locke isn't on the island to replace Ben, but is there to replace Richard?

 

5. Perhaps the Losties changing things in the past has started to have a very real effect on the future. In the past few weeks, we have both Eloise (2007) and Richard (2007) who apparently always knew what was going on, and both have made overtures to the fact that they don't or can't see what is going to happen anymore. Maybe the Losties are being "successful" in changing things for themselves/the island/humanity. Perhaps we are witnessing a "changing of the guard" so to speak in who controls the island, from the richard-whidmore-hawking types to Locke-Jack. Maybe that will be the great war or battle coming up. The old guard fighting to stay in control of the island, with the Losties destined to take over and be the new keepers.

[UConn James]

Decent episode. Here some thoughts.

 

1. Kate has tuned into a ninny. I like old kate better where she was much stronger and not so wishy-washy.

 

2. In last week's ep, Richard seems to be entering a territory where he doesn't know what the hell is going on. Prior to that point, he seemed to have everything under control and knew what was going to happen, and when. Now he seems genuinely dumbfounded by Locke and Locke's new power.

 

3. Me and the girlfriend both think that that Richard might be holding Jacob "down" so to speak. Perhaps he's running a "scam," since he seems to be in control of the island and always has been. He always picks "leaders" that will help him control the people. I think he's afraid of Locke blowing his cover and taking over.

 

4. On a similar vein, perhaps Locke isn't on the island to replace Ben, but is there to replace Richard?

 

5. Perhaps the Losties changing things in the past has started to have a very real effect on the future. In the past few weeks, we have both Eloise (2007) and Richard (2007) who apparently always knew what was going on, and both have made overtures to the fact that they don't or can't see what is going to happen anymore. Maybe the Losties are being "successful" in changing things for themselves/the island/humanity. Perhaps we are witnessing a "changing of the guard" so to speak in who controls the island, from the richard-whidmore-hawking types to Locke-Jack. Maybe that will be the great war or battle coming up. The old guard fighting to stay in control of the island, with the Losties destined to take over and be the new keepers.

 

As to #5, I think we saw real evidence of that with Charlotte's trance-like quotes. It was the conservation she had with Faraday when she was eating the chocolate. The original conversation didn't happen in this go-'round b/c Faraday expressly said he wasn't going to tell her not to come back. But he did, later. Charlotte's mind during the time-flash just before she died/disappeared was correcting for the change.

 

Notice that Sawyer's, Juliet's and Jin's noses didn't really start bleeding until Faraday made the decision not tell Charlotte to never come back to the island. It was an example of his Free Will / Variable theory at work. Unfortunately, the choice had the side effect of slowly bricking the effected people's minds due to an overload of conflicting information / or wrt an aneurysm, literally tying their brain up in knots until it explodes. Desmond is the only character who's been able to overcome the problem b/c of what happened in "The Constant" where Faraday untangled or un-conflicted the information.

 

Presently, the future is in doubt b/c the Variables are active in '77. Whether "the universe finds a way to course correct" is up in the air. I think it's very likely that it does. It's just that root question of what entity selectively brought the O6, among all the Ajira passengers, back to '77 --- I assume it's the island. And then, for what purpose --- to change history or fulfill it. We'll see on Wednesday.

 

#4 is an interesting thought. What of Christian Shepard, tho?

 

#1, Kate is acting in her own self-interest, as she has since the start, really. She wants a spot on the raft, she gets Sun to mildly poison some water. She simply doesn't want to be on 815 heading for prison if Faraday's plan and Jack's execution of the plan, can or do work.

 

And I'm still thinking about that JJ Abrams conference speech about "the magic box" in his life/works from the last post on page 21 of the thread --- if you haven't watched it, please do. It's renewed that line of mystery for me about the "magic box" that Ben mentioned when the Others got Locke's father, and the box Ben had hidden in the motel vent right before Ajira 316.

 

From above, we know that Lindelof has said that not everything will ultimately be answered; some mysteries will remain. Question to everyone: What are your Top Three of running questions/mysteries that you most want answered? That, you think, must be answered for this show to not end disappointingly? Right now I think mine are:

 

1. Richard Alpert's origins, wrt to the Black Rock or the statue.

2. The contents and/or machination of the "magic box/es" as described above.

3. Who are "Adam and Eve"?

[extrahammer]

Whereas I assumed Dr. Candle/Chang would have more control on Dharma matters, Radzinsky totally ran him over in the last episode.

 

"Follow The Leader" was the name of the episode and it seems as though Locke is assuming power whether Richard likes it or not. I kinda like that about Locke.

 

I don't think I could possibly select 3 questions that I want to know most because there's too many questions in my head.

 

For the sake of the finale, I hope we get a glimpse of the inevitable war that seems to be coming. Who vs. Who?

[EZC-Boston]

I have 1:

 

"What lies beneath the statue?"

[Robert Paulson]

i had a lot of dreams about this last night

 

i wonder is richard is really 'island dead' (killed but still somehow among us) like christian and daniel f. it seems like people stop aging when they are in that 'island dead' phase

 

i also see him and the others being original black rock crew members

 

the way the story seems to have gone out and come back in over the seasons i can see the show ending with them blowing up jug head and transporting themselves back onto the oceanic flight in 2004- this time it does not crash but lands safely in L.A. as if nothing happened

 

for the folks on the island they reset also but to where/when i do not know then this repeats- kind of like the big bang expansion and then contraction to a singularity in the universe repeating over time

 

still wondering how the little black kid and his dog are going to be loose end tied

[PromoTheRobot]

i had a lot of dreams about this last night

 

i wonder is richard is really 'island dead' (killed but still somehow among us) like christian and daniel f. it seems like people stop aging when they are in that 'island dead' phase

 

i also see him and the others being original black rock crew members

 

the way the story seems to have gone out and come back in over the seasons i can see the show ending with them blowing up jug head and transporting themselves back onto the oceanic flight in 2004- this time it does not crash but lands safely in L.A. as if nothing happened

 

for the folks on the island they reset also but to where/when i do not know then this repeats- kind of like the big bang expansion and then contraction to a singularity in the universe repeating over time

 

still wondering how the little black kid and his dog are going to be loose end tied

Except that Richard left the island twice that I know of: once to visit John Locke when he was a child, and second to recruit Juliette to come to the island. Not sure if "island dead" works off-island.

 

PTR

[Robert Paulson]

Except that Richard left the island twice that I know of: once to visit John Locke when he was a child, and second to recruit Juliette to come to the island. Not sure if "island dead" works off-island.

 

PTR

 

i understand, but Daniel f was killed in 74 and lived off island for many years never aging- not saying i can explain it

[UConn James]

At 8 p.m., the season finale night commences with a retrospective titled "A Journey in Time" that looks back on the events of this season.

 

LOST 5.16 & 5.17 - "The Incident Parts 1 & 2" - (ABC promo copy) In the Season 5 finale, Jack runs into stiff opposition to his plan to set things right on the island, while Ben gets a tough job assignment from Locke. Flashbacks focus on Kate, Juliet and Sawyer.

 

EW: Doc Jensen - 'Lost' Going Out With A Bang?

 

Really recommend Jensen's pre- and post- ep stuff. Here, he provides some speculation, a brief recap of each episode this season, a fairly lengthy video interview with Darlton on the last page, and the 'Untangled' for FTL. By the by, I've really enjoyed the 'Untangled' series... dude has a hilarious voice, and it pokes a little fun at the show/characters.

 

Lost Season 5 Finale Will Leave You Wondering How The Show Can Continue

Michael Emerson, who plays Ben Linus on ABC’s LOST, says that the season finale for Season Five will make you want to eat your soul.

 

i understand, but Daniel f was killed in 74 and lived off island for many years never aging- not saying i can explain it

 

Umm, that's not what happened to Faraday.

[Robert Paulson]

At 8 p.m., the season finale night commences with a retrospective titled "A Journey in Time" that looks back on the events of this season.

 

LOST 5.16 & 5.17 - "The Incident Parts 1 & 2" - (ABC promo copy) In the Season 5 finale, Jack runs into stiff opposition to his plan to set things right on the island, while Ben gets a tough job assignment from Locke. Flashbacks focus on Kate, Juliet and Sawyer.

 

EW: Doc Jensen - 'Lost' Going Out With A Bang?

 

Really recommend Jensen's pre- and post- ep stuff. Here, he provides some speculation, a brief recap of each episode this season, a fairly lengthy video interview with Darlton on the last page, and the 'Untangled' for FTL. By the by, I've really enjoyed the 'Untangled' series... dude has a hilarious voice, and it pokes a little fun at the show/characters.

 

Lost Season 5 Finale Will Leave You Wondering How The Show Can Continue

 

 

 

 

Umm, that's not what happened to Faraday.

i got the date wrong it was '77 explain what did i miss or do not understand - he had to live off island to be able to return in 2004, no?

[UConn James]

i got the date wrong it was '77 explain what did i miss or do not understand - he had to live off island to be able to return in 2004, no?

 

No, he left '74 to go to Ann Arbor (Dharma HQ) to do "research." He then came back in '77 and was shot by his mother (as he himself was in her womb) in "The Variable."

 

Daniel did not go someplace and return in 2004. Eloise leaves the island and has Daniel (not necessarily in that order, yet) in 1978 and raises him to be a brilliant physicist knowing that she's going to be sending him to be shot. Due to the time-travel, 1974-7 is the Left-Behinders' present.

 

Daniel Faraday's timeline:

1978 - Born

c.1987 - No time to play the piano anymore. You're becoming a physicist b/c it's your destiny.

1996 - Helps Desmond find (or, perhaps, become) a Constant at Oxford

Sometime in-b/w - Experiments on himself and Teresa with the same machine he used on his rat

2004 - Widmore comes to temporally-displaced veggie-Daniel to get him to go on the freighter. Eloise Hawking encourages Daniel to go, knowing that her younger self will shoot him (but perhaps hoping that he can figure out something to do)

Time-travel from 2004 to 1974 - Dan is going slightly batty b/c of Charlotte's death.

1974-1977 - Daniel goes to Ann Arbor to do "research."

1977 - Daniel returns to the island, tells Jack that each of them who time-traveled is like a free radical who can change history. But they can die permanent-like b/c this is their present --- it's not a matter that we know you're there c.2004 so everything will be all right. If nothing is changed in "The Incident," it's kind of like a loop, and you go back up to '1978' and it will always happen that way... Faraday will chronologically die before he's born.

 

I don't know if I'm explaining this well enough.

 

LOST Untangled - The Variable. This may help. Or not.

[Robert Paulson]

No, he left '74 to go to Ann Arbor (Dharma HQ) to do "research." He then came back in '77 and was shot by his mother (as he himself was in her womb) in "The Variable."

 

Daniel did not go someplace and return in 2004. Eloise leaves the island and has Daniel (not necessarily in that order, yet) in 1978 and raises him to be a brilliant physicist knowing that she's going to be sending him to be shot. Due to the time-travel, 1974-7 is the Left-Behinders' present.

 

Daniel Faraday's timeline:

1978 - Born

c.1987 - No time to play the piano anymore. You're becoming a physicist b/c it's your destiny.

1996 - Helps Desmond find (or, perhaps, become) a Constant at Oxford

Sometime in-b/w - Experiments on himself and Teresa with the same machine he used on his rat

2004 - Widmore comes to temporally-displaced veggie-Daniel to get him to go on the freighter. Eloise Hawking encourages Daniel to go, knowing that her younger self will shoot him (but perhaps hoping that he can figure out something to do)

Time-travel from 2004 to 1974 - Dan is going slightly batty b/c of Charlotte's death.

1974-1977 - Daniel goes to Ann Arbor to do "research."

1977 - Daniel returns to the island, tells Jack that each of them who time-traveled is like a free radical who can change history. But they can die permanent-like b/c this is their present --- it's not a matter that we know you're there c.2004 so everything will be all right. If nothing is changed in "The Incident," it's kind of like a loop, and you go back up to '1978' and it will always happen that way... Faraday will chronologically die before he's born. Think Desmond having to re-live his life in "Flashes Before Your Eyes."

 

I don't know if I'm explaining this well enough.

 

LOST Untangled - The Variable. This may help. Or not.

i understand what you are saying

[DrDawkinstein]

i am doing the pee-pee dance all the way until 8pm. soooo excited!!

 

 

the only bummer is this means 8 more months until we get to see LOST again. and when it does return, thats it

[duey]

Wow...sleep will not come easy for duey tonight...

[UConn James]

I missed most of the introductory scene with the two guys on the beach. %^&*ing antenna pointed toward Boston was cutting out (and people, I have a sweet antenna setup) and I had to manually switch to the Providence backup. Channel comes in fine every other time I have it on, worked all right during "A Journey Through Time" and it boinks out at ~9:02! Figures. I just had cut my toenails today, didn't I?! Bad things happen when I cut my toenails. The planes hit on 9/11, what was I doing at that exact moment? *Clip* The day my dog died last year. *Clip* There you go.

 

So... A little help on what the dialogue was b/w Jacob and ?? Classic miss the beginning and you're %$^&ing screwed! What happened there?

 

Even with all that.... HOLYSH--NOONEDOESFINALESLIKELOST!

 

Instead of the fade to black ala Sopranos, we get a fade to white. And we can all guess 'til we're blue in the face but we have no idea what it means. Was the light reminiscent of what happened to Desmond when he turned the key? Was it a regular old nuclear explosion and everything's toast? Was what happened here "The Incident" and Dharma will build the Swan anyway, and what happened happened? Dr. Chang's hand would seem to suggest this.

 

In the Doc Jensen link I provided above, Lindelof gave the cryptic, "This episode is going to be touching." And so, we find out that Jacob physically touches certain of the Lostaways. Let's see, there was Kate, Sawyer, Jack, Locke, Hurley ... and did he touch Juliet? I'm going to have to watch this again tomorrow. Really times like these I wish somebody made an (affordable) OTA-only DVR that's worth a damn. Anyway.... Is this like a "Tag, you're it!" kind of thing?

 

Don't know about any of you, but I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, especially in the last hour. Kind of like watching Bills games back when we were actually good... but there's very little in the world of fiction that does that to me.

 

I really would like an answer to that before I post much more.

[K-Gun10]

hen jacob means there coming im telling you right now he means jack and company after the explosion, is there anyways juliet survived that.

[UConn James]

hen jacob means there coming im telling you right now he means jack and company after the explosion, is there anyways juliet survived that.

 

Well, Desmond survived turning the key....

 

But then, there's the whole issue of Richard (c.2007) having said in "The Variable" that he watched Jack, Kate, Sawyer, et al die 30 years previous.

[duey]

After rewatching the opening scene where we meet Jacob, I am even more convinced that my theory that everything has been happening on the island in one big loop in correct. Jacobs comment that "It only ends one...anything that happens before that is just progress" bears this out.

 

And I'm now convinced that Jacob represents a God-like figure and his unnamed counterpart represents a devil-like figure. Jacob in white vs. the other fellow in black. Could this island be God's continuing study of humanity in a microcosm?

 

Lastly, this scene also reminded me of the palaver between Roland and the man in black at the end of the first Dark Tower book.

 

Here's a link to the opening scene...

[DrDawkinstein]

fyi, the translation of Richard's latin answer to "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" is:

 

"That which will save us all."

 

 

my other quick note for now... how great was it seeing Rose and Bernard living on the island?!? and that attitude of "it's always something with you people" and "we're retired", ha!

[PTS]

It was definitely one of the best episodes last night but when will we start getting answers and not more questions.

 

Ben Linus is the only character on that show that we really truly understand since his entire timeline can be traced from the moment his dad brought him to the Island.

 

Everyone else is a freakin wildcard.

 

Who the hell is Locke 2.0?